Pitchfork Review:
Future Pilot AKA
Secrets From the Clockhouse
[Creeping Bent; 2007]
Rating: 7.2
Even without knowledge of the collaborations that comprise
Secrets From the Clockhouse, each song feels like the work of a supergroup. From the get-go, opener "Nothing Without You (Tery Bina)", the listener is flooded with the image of close to a dozen musicians hanging out together under the baton of Sushil K. Dade (Soup Dragon, Telstar Ponies, BMX Bandits). Since 1997 Dade has been writing work drawn from dozens of collaborations and here Belle & Sebastian's Stuart Murdoch, and Sarah Martin, Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon, Damo Suzuki, and many more align their experiences to suit Dade's reverential folk vision. The result is a series of elegant interludes, infused as much with Dade's vision as with the oeuvres of the musicians he's brought on board. "Nothing Without You", a twinkling folk rendition of Pakistani song by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, makes a fine opening point for a record full of songs with similar languorous flourishes. The angelic counterpoints between guitar, banjo, and reverbing vocals are thank-you notes to a 1960s folk rock aesthetic, implacably nostalgic without being trite. What directly follows, "The City of Lights", is a robust song with a piano as its backbone: The fluid chordal movements across the keyboard even get their own cadenza in the midst of a jam that's, in the end, another interlude. A BMX Bandits fan site astutely calls Dade "the bloke who puts those great interludes" on BMX Bandits albums, and indeed, the brevity and fluidity of
Secrets' tracks ensures their standalone, episodic nature.
One of the longer tracks, "Nuclear War", is a free jazz undertaking, with short, percussive utterances, muttered lines like "Kiss your ass goodbye," slippery special effects, and a smattering of saxophones and bass reaching through a smoky, whirling atmosphere commit themselves rapaciously to our memory without the slightest affectation and little tonal emphasis. One of the most improvisational tracks, the song is an interlude within an interlude, a piece of thought reflection less traditional than its companions.
Dade posits "Shenandoah", an early 19th century sea chantey (elsewhere covered by Bob Dylan), within the highland tradition, emphasizing in spite of the song's Stateside origin that much of this album and its contributors are culling their inspiration from the flavors of the British Isles. The c&w flavor of "A-N-U-R-U-D-H", with a looping guitar trot in 2/2 and a wash of slide guitar throughout, draws in cool, aerated female vocals lost in the fog of subtle effects and quiet additions from an organ, making it a gem that stands out, but not isolated from its relatives.
As emphasized by the hilarious track "Word Association", Dade's interest is in the playful interlocutions between his special guests; what's furthering these interlocutions are homages to traditions that succeed in part because of the guests' longstanding relationships to them. The genre hoarding and blending exemplified by the pairing of say, the tingling pop song "Eyes of Love" (featuring two Belle and Sebastians) with the free-form "Nuclear War" emphasizes this album's progressive flavor; its historical celebration is created by seasoned believers and innovators, whose evident pleasure in referencing a colorful trajectory is the only requirement-- besides talent-- of making this work relevant.
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Liz Colville, February 05, 2007